FLaR: Animatronic Investigations
by Freelancer Josiah
Summary: Former security guard for Freddy Fazbear's, Alex Redding can't seem to catch a break. Now a private investigator, he's hired by the animatronic company that created the Fazbear band to track down the original four animatronics, having never been found after the 'Drone Incident'. There's just one problem. Alex would rather not lose his new roommates.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, everyone! Alex Redding's back around, poking his nose into a brand new mess featuring everyone's favorite animatronic band!

Yes, it's a new long-term Alex Redding story, this one following the former guard turned PI in a rather... Awkward situation.

Regarding update schedule: this story is going to be updated every other week, alternating with my other story - Into the Rift. So next Friday you can expect a chapter of Rift, and the week after more of this.

Tinkering with a few new writing styles for this story, let me know what you think!

On with the show!

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><p>I let out an exhausted sigh as I finally came back in the house. It had been a long day, and I was dead-tired; even after all the time both pulling night shifts back on the police force as well as my week at Freddy Fazbear's, I still exit late nights feeling like something the cat would refuse to touch on principle. Stretching out, I walked in the house and checked the time. It was almost 3 AM; I'd called in at midnight and told the others to not bother waiting up, so with a yawn I set my coat and hat aside. Cleaning up would have to wait until later, because all I wanted right now was my bed.<p>

As I staggered down the hall, I thought over the events of the day. It had been one heck of a starter… I had just gotten hired on with the Open Eyes private investigation firm; with my track record as well as my reputation from the incident around two months ago, I figured I was a shoo-in for the job and I was right. I'd been hired within the weekend, and was working as an assistant on several larger scale cases, as well as covering smaller-scale ones. Most of it was simple; cheating partners, business associates screwing each other out of money, minor level stuff. That was two weeks ago.

Yesterday, I had just settled in and finished paperwork for one of these low-end cases when a client came in. He introduced himself as Richard Matthews, and he had a case for me…

_Richard Matthews sat down across from me. I sized him up; he was an older gentleman, somewhat portly, with a head of black hair. Judging by the fact that only the sides had silver streaks, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't a toupee, but that wasn't my business. "Mr… Redding, was it?" I nodded, gesturing for him to speak while I subtly turned my recorder on. This could be just another boring case, but considering how nervous he looked…_

"_Mr. Redding, I represent a fairly important corporate entity that is very concerned regarding its standings in the public sector, especially considering recent events." I rolled my eyes; this guy was a real character… "Our business thrives primarily on repeat customers and secondarily on corporate reputation, so we aren't too keen on any kind of loose ends regarding… Incidents." Judging by the way that he was dancing around the subject, I figured this was going to be one heck of an 'incident', so I sat forward. He shifted uncomfortably for a moment, his gaze shifting around the office. "Mr. Redding, is this room secure?"_

_I sighed; another guy who thinks every room is bugged. Probably a conspiracy theorist… I've dealt with them before. I waved him on. "This place is airtight, Mr. Matthews. Just you, me, and the dust." And my recorder, but he didn't need to know that._

_He exhaled a sigh of relief and mopped his forehead with a handkerchief. "Excellent. Then I may take you into full confidence. Mr. Redding… I represent Golden Mile Animatronics. Are you familiar with us?"_

_I froze solid for a long moment. Golden Mile? Those were the guys that provided animatronics and animatronic repairs to amusement parks nationwide. And if memory serves, one of their clients was the late Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria._

"_Of course you must be familiar with us, Mr. Redding. After all, you have a reputation; the sole force behind cutting the 'Drone Incident' of two months ago short! You're a hero, Mr. Redding… And you have intimate knowledge of the animatronics in question. You see…" He lowered his voice, leaning across the desk. I was starting to feel more than a bit nervous at this point as he continued. "You see… There is a rather large loose end in this case. The official police reports showed that all four of the original animatronics were disassembled in the final conflict, however my superiors believe differently. We have it on good authority that the serial numbers of these animatronics do not match those of the original four performers of Freddy Fazbear's. Quite simply, Mr. Redding… We are missing four murderous animatronics."_

_My jaw dropped. How in the heck did Golden Mile find the serial numbers? Last I knew, they were all under police custody pending the class action suit against Fazbear Entertainment. How did they find them? For that matter, why did Golden Mile even care? The lawsuit was against Fazbear's, not their company. Taking my confusion for shock, Matthews continued._

"_Of course, this is unacceptable to my superiors, and the decision was made to locate the four missing animatronics and… Dispose of them. For the common safety, of course; you know firsthand of their abilities, and their deadly tendencies."_

_A flash of memory; Bonnie peering into the backstage camera, black eyes staring into me. I nodded, but couldn't help shifting uncomfortably; how did they know? I had to ask._

"_So, why call me? Why not just report to the police that the four they have aren't the original four? They're in charge of the Freddy's investigation and lawsuit."_

_Matthews shifted uncomfortably. "Erm, you see… Contacting the authorities is not an option at present, Mr. Redding. We would like to keep our names as far away from the incident as possible. Why, it was only because we cross-referenced our order lists with the four located that we discovered they were not the originals. And, since there are four killer machines currently unaccounted for, we would like to solve the problem quickly and effectively. Now, regarding your fee…" He changed the subject pretty quickly there… "We are willing to pay you your current hourly fee plus expenses, including a bonus should you locate all four animatronics within a month." I paused for a moment. Why a month?_

_I had to think for a moment about this one. Something seemed off about this... Mr. Faz had told me everything was taken care of, and we shouldn't have any issues with people looking for the bots. It could be tricky… On the other hand, there was something about this I didn't trust. Why was Golden Mile getting involved?_

_It only took me a bit more thinking before I nodded. "You have yourself a deal, Mr. Matthew. I'll need any files you can send me about the missing animatronics; serial numbers, programming data, anything you can find."_

_He hesitated, then nodded quickly. "Some of the files are proprietary, however I'll see how much I can send for you. I appreciate you taking this case on, Mr. Redding…" He nodded, and I handed him the standard contract. I sat back, thinking for a moment as he filled it out…_

_So Golden Mile was looking for the original four animatronics. Seems like they're trying to make sure they don't get in any trouble from the drone incident… But why would they? The suit's against Fazbear's. I shook the thought off; that would come later._

"_By the way, Mr. Redding? One final note." Matthews spoke again, getting my attention. "The animatronics were equipped with GPS devices shortly after having their AIs installed. They went offline shortly after their free roaming mode was disabled after 1987, however we've been making efforts towards remotely reactivating the trackers. If we can, we'll let you know as soon as possible." He passed the signed contract into my suddenly-frozen hand._

_So the others had GPS units, and Golden Mile was trying to turn them on? That… Could be bad. My mind was racing at this point; just earlier today, coming into the office, I had seen at least three protest groups shouting for the strict control – if not banning – of artificial intelligence on their scale. This could be interesting. I looked up as Matthews was leaving the office, one final question on my mind._

"_Hey, answer me this if you can…" He stopped and looked at me. "Why the concern over their location? It's been two months, and we haven't heard word of any new incidents. Maybe they just ran out of power and shut down."_

_The stare he gave me was one of the most laughable attempts to be intimidating that I'd ever seen. I returned it with one of my own, and instead of answering the question Matthews muttered a "Goodbye, Mr. Redding…" And walked out._

_I kicked my legs up on my desk, my mind racing at this point. So Golden Mile was looking for the original four… The four I currently had living at home. And they were doing it to 'take care of loose ends'… They even promised a bonus if I found them within a mo-Waiiiit…_

_I checked my calendar; sure enough, next month was the hearings for the suit. Idly, I wondered if Golden Mile was just worried about having their name dragged into this by Fazbear Entertainment; considering how stubbornly they were able to hush up both the five murdered children, the Bite, and all the dead security guards I couldn't blame them._

_I shrugged, then decided to close down shop. I wanted to get down to the library and check public records around Golden Mile, as well as look into if they were catching any heat from the Drone incident. Maybe they were losing money and sales, and figured if they showed that they had recalled and destroyed the 'malfunctioning' animatronics they'd get some consumer goodwill. I snorted slightly at this, before heading out._

_The library to check public records, and then a careful look through whatever files Matthews was able to get from his bosses for me. And then… I sighed, not wanting to have to do this; they were both still exhausted and still catching the ire of both protestors and news groups, in addition to the lawsuit pending. I didn't want to bother them with this, but I had to have some answers._

_I'd have to get in touch with Mr. Faz and Mike Schmidt._

I yawned as I entered my room; sure enough, Foxy was sitting in her recharger, in standby. When I shut the door behind me, her golden eyes flickered briefly and she looked up to me, head dilting. "A-Alex?" She spoke, the faint stutter in her voice working for a 'yawn'. I smiled at her and nodded.

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry I'm home so late…" She smiled and nodded, disconnecting herself long enough to come over and give me a brief hug. I hugged her back, but couldn't help feeling a bit nervous; this Golden Mile issue was going to be a headache, and I'd rather keep it from them until I could talk to Mr. Faz and Mike. With a smile, I gently kissed her. "It's late, hun. You should get back to charging."

She smiled and shook her head. "I've been plugged in for most of the day, Alex. My battery's full… Besides, I wanted to…" She blushed a bit, before looking up at him. "I wanted to sleep in your bed tonight. With you."

It was my turn to blush. Considering the issues with dating an animatronic, there were certain things I'd given up on, and one of them was exactly what she was suggesting. After all, when you had to be plugged into a charger all night, it wasn't very conductive to snuggling with a partner… Apparently she'd been thinking about this for a while if she had a full battery. I softly began to pet her. "You know you'll have to charge up some tomorrow, or plug in earlier…" She shushed me with a kiss and a smile. I smiled back; apparently she wasn't taking no for an answer.

I changed into an old T-shirt and pair of shorts and crawled into bed, with her following shortly after. The springs creaked slightly; her endoskeleton had some weight to it. With a smile, she nuzzled up under my chin and I wrapped my arms around her. A flick of a switch, and the lights were out.

I was looking forward to a peaceful sleep, but one thing still bothered me…

What was Golden Mile's involvement? Seems like I have two cases going on at once here, neither of which they hired me for. First off, I had to figure out what their involvement was, and why they cared where the original band members had went? Their names weren't connected to the lawsuit, and even if they were there was still plenty of evidence to handle Fazbear Entertainment as it was.

The second question, and the one I would argue as more important… How did they find out the animatronics that the police had taken weren't the same as the originals? I remembered them; they were the ones that were guarding Golden Freddy when the band, aided by my old friend Adams, had taken down his drone operation. They had been taken into custody and shut down, pending the lawsuit…

So how had they found the serial numbers?

This question bothered me all the way into a deep and peaceful sleep.

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><p>So it seems like Alex is in a bit of a sticky situation on this one. What's Golden Mile up to?<p>

Read and review, everyone!


	2. Chapter 2: The Investigation Begins

And so continue the adventures of Alex Redding, folks. This case should be a bit interesting, so he'll need some help on it...

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><p>In spite of my misgivings, it was nice sleeping next to Foxy that night. She was surprisingly warm and plush, and I slept better than I had in quite a while in spite of my worries and confusion surrounding Golden Mile. Sadly it didn't last, and next morning I awoke with my bed empty and Foxy back in her charger. I smiled and shrugged, giving her a quick kiss before heading out to the kitchen.<p>

It seemed like just another day; Chica was hard at work in the kitchen, cooking once again while Freddy and Bonnie were snuggled up on the couch. With a smirk I waved to them, causing the bear to smile shyly and the rabbit to giggle. I then turned my attention to the phone; I had a lot of work to do today, and if anything was going to get done I'd need to get some calls in now. Checking to make sure I still had Faz and Mike's numbers, I dialed the former first. It rang for a moment, then I heard his voice as he picked up.

"Hello?" Sounded like he'd been awake for a while. I really did regret getting him involved, but...

"Mr. Faz? It's Alex. You busy?"

His voice seemed to light up. "Ah, Alex my boy! Not one bit, just ignoring the latest blast of hate-mail from my 'adoring public'. What can I do for you? The others aren't giving you any trouble, are they?" That was just like him; after I'd taken the band in, he treated all of us like his grandkids...

"No, actually. Remember I mentioned I got accepted at Open Eyes? Well, I've got a case and I could use some advice from you."

"Certainly, my dear boy. What can I do for you?" I sighed; I really wished I didn't have to get him involved in this.

"Well, it's regarding Golden Mile..." The silence on his end of the line caught me by surprise.

"...Go on."

"They got in touch with me yesterday, and wanted to hire me on. Apparently, they found the serial numbers that the police-held bots had and didn't manage to match them up with my current roommates." I dropped my voice a bit at this, trying to prevent the others from hearing... The only sign I saw was Bonnie's ear twitching slightly, but she didn't seem to respond any further.

Faz sighed. "...How did they get the numbers? And furthermore, why are you calling me about them?"

"Because the guy that hired me mentioned that the originals have GPS trackers installed. Know anything about that?"

Silence on the line again. "...Ergh... Alex, this is hard to explain over the phone. Could you please come over? Not today, of course; I need to... Find a few things. There's a few details about your friends that I haven't fully divulged yet, and they may be relevant to why Golden Mile is hunting for them."

"Sure thing, Mr. Faz. Tomorrow around noon? I'll bring some lunch." He chuckled.

"That would be fine, Alex. I'll see you then." Click.

I flipped the phone over and dialed up Mike. At this point, Chica stuck her head out of the kitchen door. "Alex? You busy?" I waved to her, the phone still ringing.

"On the phone right now, Chicadee. I'll come give ya a hand when I'm done. It's work stuff." She nodded and smiled, ducking back in. A moment later, I heard Mike answer his phone.

"Mike, it's Alex." I heard him chuckle a bit.

"Hey, Alex. How ya doing? We still need to meet up for that drink." I laughed; after the fallout from the Drone Incident had died down, Mike had promised to buy both Adams and I a drink to reward us for stopping them.

"I know, Mike. Just another thing on the list. Hey, you busy? On a case, and I could use a hand."

"Well, I guess I could help... Unless you need bait to catch a psychopath. I've done enough of that for one life. What's up?"

I explained the situation with Golden Mile, the 'missing' animatronics, and the serial numbers. Mike listened, and finally spoke once more. "Alex, you always manage to get yourself in the nastiest of situations, don't you? Alright, whatcha need?"

"You're closer to the court case than I am, so I need you to look into it. See if you can find any connection between the lawsuit against Fazbear Entertainment and Golden Mile; figure out if they're gonna try and push blame over to the 'bot manufacturer."

"Right, got it. While I'm at it I'll try and figure out how the heck they got the serials. I'll let you know if I find anything, okay?"

"Sounds good to me, Mike. You're a lifesaver." I smiled.

"You're one to talk, Alex. Take care, okay? See ya." Click. I hung the phone up and turned to the kitchen, seeing a bit of smoke coming from within for the first time.

"Dang it, Chica..." I rushed in, ready to get to work on putting out her latest culinary catastrophe.

Roughly two hours, a lot of scrubbing, and a shower later, the kitchen was set right and I was heading out. First stop was the library; I wanted to see what Golden Mile's records were all about. Pulling up a chair and firing up the library's terminal, I started hunting through news clippings regarding them. Most of the stuff seemed fairly straightforward; op-eds about AI and their work with animatronics and trying to tie them to the Drone Incident, news headlines of the week just after mentioning them in passing, and the occasional bit of slander from tabloids trying to paint them as the ones behind the whole mess. Rolling my eyes, I glanced a bit further back.

Articles from when Freddy's first opened scrolled across a bit later, and I looked closer; Golden Mile Entertainment had been chosen for their skill in robotics, as well as their creative methods... Seemed like a puff piece, but I looked a bit closer to the end of the article.

_Given the recent increase in sales of Golden Mile's re-purposed mechanicals, it has called into question whether or not a company that was once widely known for bleeding edge combat robotics was entirely comfortable taking these same techniques and using them to craft machines to entertain children. There are a number of skeptics saying that the Golden Mile machines are dangerous, however these claims have largely been unfounded._

_Golden Mile's stock increased heavily in the week surrounding their announced formation of an Entertainment division, begun by the purchase from new restaurant Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria of four new animatronics to entertain children._

I sat back and thought about that for a moment. So Golden Mile used to be into combat machines? That... Certainly made things interesting. Maybe the reason they wanted the originals found was for the lawsuit after all; if they opened up the four animatronics and proved they hadn't used any of their military tech in them, it'd certainly clear them from any responsibility as far as direct action was concerned... But I did question the AI. After all, Golden Freddy had broken and turned into the maniac that I knew all too well... I'll have to look into this a bit closer.

My phone pinged; looking down, I realized that it was a message from Matthews. Judging by the attachments, I figured it was the paperwork I'd asked for. The e-mail was fairly straightforward, once I cut out all of his ten-dollar vocabulary; just another reminder that he wanted me to find the missing bots within a month... Or, in his case, before the lawsuit. With a shrug, I opened up the first file.

Inside was a basic schematic for the endoskeletons of Freddy, Foxy, Chica, and Bonnie. I looked them over carefully; there were some small notes referring to other files, discussing taking parts from their old defense contracts to make the endoskeletons work properly. Nothing too important thus far... Looking over the 'head' schematic, I paused; there was the AI processor... Seemed all good. There was a handwritten note reminding them to rewrite the AI for every character...

Wait. That note had a date on it... And on a second look, that date was a fair bit later than the schematics were; a good year, maybe two... I mulled this over for a moment. Maybe the note came out because Golden Mile only expected to sell one animatronic to Fazbear's? I shrugged, looking over the next file. Nothing too fancy; just a single page from their serial number list, with four circled; I was guessing they were for the bots. They ended with FF, FP, CC, and BB; seemed simple enough to figure out who was who, then... And then there was a fifth one, just above them. GFF.

That... Was interesting. I'd have to look into this, maybe give Matthews a call and see if it was related. Knowing my luck he'd tell me to bugger off, but it was worth a shot. The last file was even less interesting; it showed the locations of the animatronics just before their GPS devices were shut down, and they were all at Fazbear's. It did show the unique signals they each used, so that was at least something; maybe I could find a way of jamming them, just in case Golden Mile managed to activate them remotely.

I powered off the library terminal and headed out, thinking over what I'd just read. Seemed like Golden Mile had a reason to be nervous after all; if it came out that they used to do defense contracting, then the media would have a field day with it and blame them for the Drone Incident just the same. One last thing to do, just ot sate my own curiosity.

I started heading towards the police station. Time to ask my old friend Adams if he knew how they'd gotten their hands on the serial codes.

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><p>And now we get into the thick of the investigation. Just so you all know, this story will be shorter than Battle for the Pizzeria, but I'm hoping it'll give the world of Alex Redding and the others that much more color and style.<p>

Read and review!


	3. Chapter 3: History Revealed

...Dangit, Scott Cawthon. Yes, as you all know, FNaF 2 came out much, much earlier than expected, so I'm going to address everything right now.

Yes, I'm going to do something with FNaF 2.

No, it's not going to be configured as a prequel.

Yes, I have an idea on how to explain Phone Guy's 'reappearance'.

And yes, Jeremy Fitzgerald will be there. Just not in an expected way.

I'll be working on a story for FNaF 2 a bit after Investigation concludes, so you won't have too long to wait. Speaking of, this story's only got one or two more chapters left, and a brief epilogue to link it to FNaF 2.

One last thing; a bit of shameless self-promotion here, but... Would y'all mind checking out my other story, Into the Rift? It's a multi-universe crossover story that's not exactly getting a lot of love currently, and it's kinda getting hard to keep going with it. If you're at all interested in action/sci-fi/fantasy stories, it's worth at least taking a look if you like what I've done with FNaF. It's what gets updated on a Friday when the Redding stories aren't.

Shameless self-promotion over, now on with the show!

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><p>The entire drive to the police station, my mind was working over what I had just read, trying to find some form of connection that would fit all the information I had. Golden Mile wanted the original animatronics before the court date, Faz had some information that I didn't know about the others yet, and Mike was looking into where the connection between the two companies was. Now, I was going to figure out how Matthews had found the serial numbers.<p>

Entering the station, I waved to the desk jockey and told him I was looking for Adams. He recognized me instantly and buzzed me in. I couldn't help but smile; after the Drone Incident, I had become even more of a local hero to this area than before. One of the officers said that Adams was busy, so he said I could wait. Looking around, I didn't see any reason to not start looking into this already, and I approached one of the officers.

"Hey, question for you. Those bots that we've got for the Fazbear case… Any idea when the last time someone checked up on them was?" He just stood there and stared at me.

"I can't discuss that case with you, Mr. Redding. I'm sorry." He shook his head; apparently he wanted to tell me, but wasn't able to. I shrugged.

"Not a problem, just figured I'd ask." A moment later, the door opened and Adams waved me into his office. After the normal hugs, handshakes, and swapped insults I took a seat and got down to business.

"So, Alex. What can I do for ya?"

I explained to him about Golden Mile, Matthews, and the serial numbers, and asked if he knew who'd seen the bots last. He nodded quietly for a moment, then shook his head and rubbed his temples.

"Alex… We have a problem. A few nights ago, a fellow calling himself the new night watchman came in, and said he was here to inspect the evidence. Since those bots are so massive, we've had to keep them in the garage; there's just not enough room for them in evidence lockup. He went out there to look into it, and about half an hour later the officer on duty heard tires squealing in the driveway. He rushed to the garage, but it was a bit too late; the guy had gotten away with the animatronics. We don't think they've been reactivated," He interrupted my unspoken question, "But we currently have no idea where the bots are or who stole them. And with the case coming up soon, we'll need them back right away if we're going to get anywhere with this."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "You think it could have been Golden Mile?"

He shrugged. "Or Fazbear's themselves, to give Golden Mile a bad name and try to bring some heat off of their own issues. Point is, we've still got them unaccounted for… And apparently Golden Mile knows that the 'captured' ones aren't the real deal. It could be a leak from Fazbear's to them, but I honestly don't know. Either way, we need them back if this lawsuit is going anywhere."

I nodded, thinking for a moment. "Gotcha. So basically I need to track 'em down because of the lawsuit, while also dodging Golden Mile's attempts to find where my roommates are, and do it within a month so we'll have them for trial. Great."

Adams just laughed slightly. "Real glad I'm not in your shoes, old buddy. Tell you what; if we find anything about them, you'll be the first outside the station to know. Okay?"

I nodded and shook his hand. "I gotta get going; Faz wants to talk to me about them, and I've got one or two other errands to run before I get back to looking into this…" With a smile and a firm handshake, he let me out and I headed back to the car. Next stop was Faz's, to see what he knew about my roommates. Hopefully it'd be something useful, considering the massive headache this case was turning out to be…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I pulled into Faz's driveway, sighing as I looked over the vandalism that was clearly still fresh. Apparently he was still catching a lot of flak for the Incident. I felt bad for him; he was a really nice guy, and he was catching crap for something that wasn't his fault. I shrugged and headed over, knocking on his door. Hopefully after the court case settles, some of the heat will move off of him and we'll all be able to move on with our lives. A few moments later, he came to the door and waved me in, clearly looking uncomfortable. I raised an eyebrow; something didn't seem right here…

"Tea, Mr. Redding?" He offered, busying himself in the kitchen while I sat in the dining room.

"No thanks, and call me Alex." He chuckled slightly before coming back out, sitting across from me. I sat up, and looked him over. He seemed slightly… Nervous. I looked him over carefully. For as long as I'd known him, Frederick Faz was one of the calmest, kindest men I'd ever met; he truly put his heart and soul into the restaurant… Up until it had been bought out from under him. Apparently the chain hadn't been as successful as he'd thought, and he had been forced to either sell it off or close it down. He'd chosen the former under the condition that the animatronics were kept operational, and the rest is history. Even after the Drone Incident, he'd seemed to take everything as calmly and kindly as he could, even the criticism… I wondered what was going through his mind.

"Alex… My boy, I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with you regarding… Well, regarding our mutual friends." I raised an eyebrow; I'd already known they had been built from refurbished combat drones, but he seemed to have something else in mind… What was their story?

"You see… Well, perhaps it would be better if I started from when I first opened the restaurant chain. It all started back in…"

(POV Change: Bonnie, back at Alex's house)

I lounged idly against Freddy, trying to enjoy the movie we were currently watching. Chica was back in the kitchen, and Foxy was in her charger in Alex's room, so there shouldn't be any reason for me to feel this… Uneasy. But I still did, and I know exactly why.

Alex. I was worried about him; after all, he had been trying to hide whatever it was he was talking about on the phone from us, which immediately caught my attention. He's always been very open with us about what he does, and about his cases; after all, it wasn't like we could tell anyone what was going on. But this time… I'd tried to ask him before he left if he needed any help, and he'd just brushed me off, saying "Nah, this one isn't a big problem. I'll handle it."

That was what really caught my attention and made me worry. Alex was smart, and tough enough to get out of a nasty scrape if he needed to… But he hadn't quite figured out that he wasn't the grand master of keeping secrets, especially not with an animatronic rabbit with super-hearing around. I knew he had the best for us in mind, but… The way he sounded, and the people he'd called…

It was only when I heard that he was talking with Mr. Faz, our creator, when I first got concerned; we weren't stupid, and we knew that he was taking some abuse simply because he was tied to us. But then Alex mentioned them… Golden Mile. It hadn't taken me long to figure it out; Golden Mile Entertainment had been the company that built us, but their name had brought flickers of other memory. Memories that I'd only seen once before, when we were fighting alongside him in the Incident; combat protocols, tactical overviews, active friend-or-foe systems… That had made me think.

When we 'downloaded' combat protocols to help Alex fight off the drones, I hadn't given much thought to how cleanly the files incorporated with our memory banks. But now, I can't help but remember Golden Mile as a different company; Golden Mile Robotics and Security. I lingered on that thought for a long while, trying to piece together where it fit in the entire narrative, before moving on to the next point. Someone was trying to find us… Someone with access to our serial numbers, and trying to kick our trackers back on.

I faintly remembered what had been done with those trackers, however I didn't pay it much mind. That wasn't the priority; if Alex needed to, he could probably just jam the signal, prevent them from finding us. All I knew was that the GPS program was still somewhere within my databank, but completely inactive and inaccessible.

Then there was the second call. Mike… I did feel bad for all the trouble we'd put him through during his week as our guard. Granted, we couldn't do much to stop it, but we at least were able to fight off the programming once… As painful as it was when the Golden doppelganger regained control. Alex had asked Mike to look into the court case; I'd remembered reading about it on the news. In the aftermath of the Drone Incident, there was a massive lawsuit against Fazbear Entertainment. I hadn't paid it much mind beyond that, but Alex apparently had to 'find' us before the lawsuit came around.

I sighed, leaning against Freddy a bit more, considering my next action. If Alex hadn't said anything about his case, then normally it meant that he didn't want to discuss it. And we'd offered to help him, too… But this case didn't seem right. Call it a hunch, but I felt like Alex could use a hand on this one…

"Freddy?" The bear looked down at me. In spite of my worry, I couldn't help but smile; he had that fatherly expression in his eyes, the same one that Mr. Faz had when he created us. "Um… I need to tell you something…"

Slowly, I explained what I'd heard, and told him about the feeling I'd gotten and the memories I'd had when Alex mentioned Golden Mile and the GPS units. He nodded slowly, taking it all in, before turning the TV off. "Bonnie… I think I should tell you a bit more about us, and our true nature. You see, how we're programmed now isn't always how we've been."

My eyes widened and I stared up at him, jaw servos working for a moment as I tried to process what to say to this. "You… Know something about us? About before we… Awoke?" With a gentle sigh, he nodded.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you, Bon-Bon… But Mr. Faz only explained it to me when I asked him, a bit after the Incident. You see, I had the same feelings as you did, but much more vivid. Active memories, remembering things as if I'd actually been there and done them. It was like…" He sighed. "Like when we were being controlled. I could remember what I'd done, but it was as if I wasn't the one doing it, like I was just along for the ride. Except…" He got a faraway look in his eyes, gazing over to the blank TV screen.

I gently nudged him, looking up at him with concern. "Freddy?"

After a long moment, he spoke again. "Except it wasn't innocent night guards we were killing. It was… Bad men. Evil men, people that wanted nothing more than to hurt innocent people. We were all sent in to… To stop them. To kill them, so they wouldn't be able to kill others." He sighed. "We were good at it. Very good… But after a while, we were… Retired. Mr. Faz said that's why our memories of that time are so fuzzy; some of the files were corrupted from how long we were offline."

"But we got put back online. Not as killers, but as healers, as entertainers. We were reprogrammed as the Fazbear band, as we are now. The memories of that time were suppressed by our limitation programming, but after we gained full sentience they were accessible again."

I nodded, eyes widening. "So that's why I can only kind of access the memories… Because the files are too broken and corrupted to view. And only certain things can trigger them popping up again, right?"

He smiled. "You always were a smart one, Bonnie. That's right; and that's also why we were so quick to pick up on how to use weapons and fight when the Drone Incident happened. After all, the old reflexes are still part of us; our endoskeletons were built for durability and combat, and the programs are still there to bring them back online."

I nodded slowly, before tilting my head. "But, I don't understand… Why were we brought offline? And why do we still have the combat reflexes? And for that matter… Why does Golden Mile want us back?" I held my head, sighing as I adjusted the mask. "I'm confused, Freddy…"

He smiled, gently rubbing my back. "It's okay, Bon-Bon. Alex is looking into it, and I'm sure he'll tell us if he finds anything we need to know. In the meantime…" His face changed to a stern frown. "I think I'll need to have a chat with Alex, make sure he's not hearing anything that'll make him nervous… Either for our welfare or against us."

(POV Change: Alex, leaving Mr. Faz's house)

I shook Mr. Faz's hand once more, a smile plastered on my face. It felt as fake as anything, but it was all I could manage. So Freddy and the others used to be combat zone robotics… And after the war was over, they were decommissioned and put into deep storage, before Golden Mile reconfigured their AI for entertainment and sold them to Fazbear Entertainment as performers. I'd kind of suspected it when I found out about their history, but Faz had dropped another bomb on me after that one.

Apparently, Golden Freddy's endoskeleton had been a field commander unit. Its entire job was to view the entire battlefield and command the other machines in active combat, weigh tactical options, and the like. Furthermore, the reason the entire project was scrapped was because the machines went haywire. Their AI seemed to 'snap' shortly after seeing civilians gunned down by insurgents, causing them to go on a complete killing spree. Unable to discern between a hostile, a friendly, and a civilian, they managed to kill dozens on all sides before being remotely shut down. Golden Mile took a massive amount of heat for the incident, and was forced to decommission the robots.

I drove home, thinking over what this meant. So Golden Mile definitely had some reason to recover their 'missing' bots; if this story ever broke, then they'd be put under… Permanently. Golden Freddy had been able to command a drone army because he had been programmed that way. My best guess was that news reel footage had re-awakened his military AI, and he'd put his 'Joy of Creation' in effect shortly afterwards. Of course, that brought a simple question… Did the others still have anything of that military programming? And if so… What would happen if it was reactivated?

It made sense, really. That was how they were able to seamlessly work together with me when we were fighting off the drones, and why they were so resilient when I fought them back at the old pizzeria. They were meant to take that kind of beating… Wearily, I pulled into the driveway, mind reeling from everything that Faz had revealed.

With all this in mind, I decided to get in touch with Matthews again tomorrow, just to try and see how much he knew about the animatronics background as combat machines, and find out why exactly Golden Mile was only taking an interest now…

I walked in, hung up my coat and hat, and started heading for the kitchen.

"Alex? Could you come in here, please? Need to have a chat with you." It was Freddy. I sighed, rubbing my forehead before heading over. He was sitting in the living room – by himself, I noticed – and was looking me over with a small frown visible.

"Evening, Freddy. What's up?" I said, taking a seat across from him. He didn't look too pleased, but I wasn't interested in playing games tonight; I just wanted him to get to the point. He sighed and leaned forward.

"Bonnie says you've got an interesting client for your most recent case… A certain robotics firm." I sighed and rubbed my forehead again. Great, so Bonnie had heard me on the phone…

"Might want to tell Bonnie that it's not polite to eavesdrop." He looked me square in the eye, an expression of concern and irritation on his face.

"Alex, cut the crap. I know you talked to Mr. Faz today… Heard all about our past, huh? Might interest you to know that I wasn't even fully aware of the story until after the whole drone mess died down – and that was only because I straight-up asked about it. Look," He said, taking a more relaxed position, "I just want to make sure there's no bad blood between us. You've done right by all of us, Alex; you're the best friend an old bear could have. I don't want us to fall out over something that happened a long time ago."

I stared for a long moment. Freddy was seriously worried that I was going to hold them accountable for what they used to do, and why they were shut down? I smirked… Then chuckled… Then started to flat-out laugh. Freddy's brows furrowed again, and he raised his voice. "Alex, this isn't the time for laughing! I'm trying to make sure we don't get split over this!"

I stopped laughing a moment later, before looking at him with a smile. "Freddy, you guys saved my life more than once that night. It'd be kind of stupid of me to shut you out just because of something you guys don't even remember, y'know?"

Freddy looked away for a moment, before sighing. "Alex… That's where you're wrong."

My eyes widened and I leaned forward, waiting for him to continue. "We do remember… Just not completely. Our files were never wiped, but over time they became corrupted. Only certain key phrases, such as our creator, can bring them back. They're… Like flashbacks."

I shook my head slowly, before coming over and resting a hand on Freddy's shoulder. "Freddy, I don't know what happened that day, and I honestly don't care. It's over, and you are who you are now. I just need to find out why Golden Mile's so interested in you four again."

He smiled up at me. "Alex… You're a good friend. Thank you." With that, he stood, tipped his hat, and headed back to the charging room. I sat down on the couch for a long moment, mind reeling from everything that had been revealed to me over the day.

So Golden Mile used to be a military robotics contractor, and the Fazbear crew used to be an active combat team… And according to Freddy, they still had flashbacks from it. That seemed to explain why Golden Freddy was so easy to snap… But something still didn't add up for why Golden Mile wanted them back. If it was just about the court case, they had all the documentation from when the conversion happened so that should clear them up…

I sighed. I didn't want to do this, but if I was going to find out what their game was, I guess I didn't have a choice.

Time to head for Golden Mile themselves, and do some snooping.

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><p>Looks like Alex is out to get some direct answers about this mess, huh? Read and review, folks!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: Warehouse Warfare

Right... Sorry about the lack of chapter last week, guys. Holidays kinda sucked up all my time. In exchange, here; have an extended chapter with a fair bit of exposition and (what I think at least) is a pretty decent action sequence.

Sad to say it, but there's only one chapter and the epilogue left to this particular story. I'm aiming to have them both done next week, and have a Christmas special uploaded on the last Friday before Christmas. After that, I'm taking five for the holidays and getting back to writing in January, with two stories.

First, a full-blown rework of Into the Rift, with more of a focus on action and high-octane combat sequences than exposition and backstory, so keep an eye out for that.

Second... I'm happy to announce Five Nights at Freddy's 2: Free Roam, the next in my Alex Redding series. It will be based around the events of FNaF 2, except as a sequel instead of a prequel. I've got a lot of ideas brewing for it, so really looking forward to bringing that to y'all!

And of course, possibly the occasional one-shot if I don't have the time/energy/ideas for a chapter of the two mainstays. The update schedule will stay the same; every Friday, a new something goes live, with the most common being alternating chapters of my two mainstay stories.

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. On with the show!

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><p>I shook my head as I looked over the building. It had been around a week since I'd decided to start poking around Golden Mile a bit more. I remembered the first time I'd tried to get in… It hadn't ended well. The guards here were stubborn about people having ID passes for everywhere they went… Ah well. It looked like their pattern was fairly simple; everyone – including the guards, oddly – was out by around 5:30. Apparently they had some time-locks, since I couldn't get the doors open any time after 6… So I had a half-hour window to get in and start searching the area.<p>

I checked over the things I'd brought; I had twin collapsible batons, a weapon I was intricately familiar with. They were strapped onto my thighs, ready for me to pull out and put to use. I had a can of mace on my belt to deal with any further attackers, a taser for any minor robotic issues, and my Python in case things go downhill fast. With a smirk, I donned my coat and watched the building. 5:29… 5:30. The last car pulled out and drove away and I headed for their warehouse.

The doors were unlocked, and I slipped easily in, looking around. It was pretty typical; animatronics lined the floor near a loading dock, several robot skeletons laying on work tables – some of them still half opened with tools in them, oddly – under bright lights, and to my shock a full weapon's rack. Granted it was locked, but still… That was suspicious, to say the least. I shrugged it off and started heading upstairs, towards the main office. Halfway up, I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched… I gripped my baton, turning slowly around…

Nothing. Not even a robot had turned to look at me. Shrugging it off as nerves, I headed into the main office and started poking around. Seemed fairly straightforward; two entrances at the top of staircases on opposite sides of the building, a row of file cabinets – many of which were locked – on the back wall next to a few computer terminals, and several assorted files and documents scattered around. There was also a large window overlooking the production floor, complete with a control panel. I started hunting through the exposed files, deciding not to look into the terminal until I needed to.

Around ten minutes later, I'd gone through most of the loose files on the desk and was now starting to think. Golden Mile had stepped up their production, even though the market for entertainment robotics seemed to have shrunk after the Drone Incident. Speaking of which, I had found a rather large file complete with copies of every witness report, every crime scene photo, and every last shred of data on the attack and on speculation. Apparently they'd put two and two together and come up with the fact that Golden Freddy, their command and tactics robot, had re-enabled his combat protocols for his own ends.

That would explain why they wanted the robots found… They probably didn't care too much about the others; they wanted Golden Freddy. Sure enough, another file had confirmed that the 'original four' were to be scrapped – something that made me nearly tear the paper from anger – and to 'dismantle and diagnose' what had happened to 'Specimen GF'. So they wanted to find out what went wrong and make sure it never happened again. Admirable, but kind of silly. Two more files left…

I opened the file and looked it over, nearly dropping it when I first saw what it was titled. 'G. Mile Com-Bots, 2014'. What in the… I set the file down, starting to pore over the contents. There wasn't much there; most of it was referencing a 'buyer', and a surprising number of combat-ready drones. There was also a printed e-mail conversation between what I believed to be the CEO and my good friend, Matthews.

_Sir – hired the detective, gave him his job. Should have the missing bots back in our hands before trial day._

_Excellent work. Did you offer him the extra for finding them in time?_

_Yes sir. He sprung on it._

_Wonderful. And the bonus should he recover GF?_

_Yes._

That lousy little… He was supposed to offer me extra for bringing Gold in? The next e-mail took place a few days later.

_Sir – still no luck enabling the GPS units. Faz is being uncooperative regarding how to enable them. Your orders?_

_Leave Faz alone. Focus on the detective and our contact._

_Yes, Sir. They say they can recover the confiscated robotics if we provide transport._

_Do it._

So Golden Mile stole the robots… can't say I'm surprised, but that leaves me scratching my head as to why. Maybe they wanted to recover all of the animatronics? Put Fazbear Entertainment in a bad light? I glanced through the rest of the file and set it aside. Not much else interesting there; just a handful of schematics and cost analysis sheets regarding combat robotics. The last file was even less helpful; it contained exactly three papers. One was discussing their new line of combat robots and their 'Friend-Or-Foe active systems' and 'Unarmed or live-fire combat efficiency'. The second one was just a brochure for their entertainment robots. The third…

I got a chill as I saw the word 'EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS' written on the top, and glanced over it. Apparently they hadn't gotten all the bugs worked out of the friend-or-foe systems, and had a hard-locked 6 PM-Midnight 'patrol time' where they were to be active on free-roam, hunting for any intruders to be contained. The paper said that being captured and contained by one of these things was grounds for termination from the company. It also said there was a recording in the main control console should anyone get stuck in the warehouse after 6 PM, when the building was supposed to automatically lock down.

I checked the time; 5:55. I had around five minutes to get out of here… But there was clearly data on that computer terminal, and I wanted to find out everything I could so I wouldn't have to come back another time and risk another run-in. Plus, my curiosity was now fully piqued. So, with my pocket recorder clicked on, I hit the 'play' button on the terminal recorder. A voice began to speak to me, sounding gruff and… A tiny bit nervous?

"Hello. If you're hearing this, it means you broke the rules and got caught in the building after 6 PM. First off; you're fired, so when the place unlocks at midnight, get your stuff and get out. We'll formally process the information later… But you've got more important problems than just finding a new job right now. So listen up and maybe you'll live to see your pink slip."

This… Wasn't good. It sounded like the recordings when I was working at the old pizzeria…

"A bit of background. The new robotics that Golden Mile executive has us building are state of the art. We're talking Robocop meets Terminator here; they'll find their target, and heaven help whoever he is – and whoever gets in their way. Just one problem; they're not quite sure how to tell a noncombatant apart from their current target at the moment… And they're locked into a 6 PM to Midnight 'active patrol' pattern or something. So basically, they see you and they'll 'detain' you. And by detain, we mean tear you limb from limb and crush your skull like a grape."

Ah, geez… Not this again. I quickly pulled my batons free, unfolding them and getting ready.

"Now, these guys aren't fully armored so you might have a shot at fighting one or two off, but at last count we had at least thirty operational combat drones, all searching for your head. So we've made a few arrangements; they shouldn't come up to the office unless they hear something, so you should be mostly safe… But if one comes up and you can't find a place to hide, then hit one of the security blast doors. That'll keep one or two of 'em out without a problem."

I grinned, looking over the door buttons. Just like that week… Wait, one or two?

"Problem is, once one of them realizes that someone's in there, they'll sit by that door and start trying to tear it open. And that makes a lot of racket… We've had the doors rated for at least five drones per door. Eventually one or two would get bored, but don't get me wrong; they'll keep coming. The building stays locked down until midnight, when the night shift guard comes in and sits on this place until work starts again."

Great… So instead of conserving power, I've got to keep quiet.

"One last thing. If you trigger the alarms, every robot in the place is gonna swarm that office and start baying for your blood. By the time emergency services get to you, you'll be lucky if there's even a red smear left. So sit tight, stay quiet, don't hit the alarms and start thinking of a new job. Good luck." Click.

I swore to myself, turning to look at the clock… Just as it turned to 6 PM. I swore again, looking over the building. Slowly, I saw every last one of the functional robots come online, their eyes glowing a menacing red as they stood and began patrolling the floor with stocky, metallic steps. They hadn't seen me, but I'd rather not run the risk… Time to sit tight. Meanwhile…

I turned and looked at the computer terminal, firing it up and starting to look over what data I could access. I'd learned a few hacking tips from Adams, and quickly had the machine dancing to my tune as I glossed over the files. Seemed to be mostly the same things I'd found in the folders, but there were two additional documents… One was labelled 'New Orders – Classified' and the other was 'TOP SECRET – Currently known MIAs'. I opened the former first.

Slowly, my eyes went over the contents of the document and I swore under my breath. Oh, Golden Mile had enabled their combat robotics again – and were selling the lousy things to the highest bidder. Corrupt dictators, drug kings, scum of the earth… No wonder they didn't want the authorities looking at this place too closely. The instant they did, they'd be on trial for treason and trafficking illegal arms. Almost hesitantly, I opened the second file…

And swore again as I read through it. An incident report, apparently for the CEO.

_Sir…_

_I was unable to locate the four original animatronics, nor was I able to confirm their destruction after the Drone Incident. We had a lead on the four that were recovered by the local police, and I sent a retrieval agent to recover the drones for analysis and destruction. However, upon arriving to the location the retrieval agent reported that the animatronics were no longer in police custody, and that they had been stolen from evidence a few days prior._

_We have no leads on the thief, and no evidence or ideas on motive for their theft. We also cannot confirm or deny rumors that they may have been reactivated somewhere else._

_We are currently having agents examine all possible leads on their location, as well as the private investigator searching for the originals. Should we locate one or the other, they will in all likelihood lead us to the rest._

_Any further orders?_

_-Matthews_

I swore once more. So Golden Mile didn't steal the bots? That… Made no sense at all. Who would want them? And moreover, what would they do with a set of four murderous animatronics? Quickly, I copied both of these files over and sent them to a small flash drive I had in my pocket, tugging it out and powering the computer down. So Golden Mile was in it up to their ears… But then again, I wasn't going to be escaping anytime soon.

I glanced at the alarm briefly. That warning was for technicians and workers, not for highly trained ex-SWAT officers. Especially not ones with experience dealing with murderous robots… On the other hand, I'd told Freddy and the others to come running if I didn't call in by 7. At that point, they'd probably just smash the door in and get me out, no authorities necessary. What to do, what to do…

As I pondered my choice, I glanced up – right into the glowing eyes of one of the robots, standing at the security door. He stared me down for a long second, before immediately beginning to sound a siren. I swore, charging over and slamming the security door shut. I could hear him pounding on it, and looking out the window I saw more robots approaching those stairs – rapidly. Looks like my hand was forced… But I can make things a bit easier on my end, at least. Grabbing the emergency recorded tape, I slammed the door myself a moment, trying to make as much noise as I could.

It worked; the robots were charging the left-side doorway with everything they had… Over half of them were now on those stairs, slamming and smashing into the door as it began to bend and dent inwards. I watched on… Ten… Fifteen… Twenty of them were now banging against it, causing the hinges to creak nastily. I'd have to time this perfectly if this was going to work… Twenty-five bots slammed against it all at once, and the old door could handle no more and smashed in, sending them all sprawling in a pile. I bolted out the other door, batons in hand.

My plan had worked; all of the bots were on the left stairs, and I had a free run down the right side and barreled my way towards the exit door. These weren't some remote-controlled mechanical murderers; they had a programmed pattern… I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice there was an extra, half-damaged one standing between me and the exit until I slammed headlong into it. I groaned, pulling my batons out and sighing. So much for leaving quick… It started to sound its siren, and I came down with a double-swing to its head, caving in the robotic skull with one fell swoop. It collapsed and I headed for the exit as fast as I could.

Only to find that the door was locked up tight. I swore, trying to kick and smash it open, no luck. Desperate, I slammed my baton into the glass, trying to shatter a window and escape… It spiderwebbed, but didn't break. Not even a chip. Sighing, I turned to face the robots. Sure enough, they had all managed to get themselves together and were now heading my way. I dropped into a combat stance.

Here we go…

The first pair charged me, hands grasping and trying to get a hold of my shirt. I brought the batons down on their elbow joints, shattering the coverings and sending the servos whirring in protest. A solid kick to the chest of one forced it back, and I grabbed ahold of the 'skull' of the other and gave it a healthy twist, snapping its neck. A baton swing sent its head off, bouncing against the wall and falling still. Another few came rushing towards me, and I dodged underneath one of the work tables before flipping it onto them, assorted tools and devices slamming them down to the ground. One grabbed hold of my coat, pulling me in and throwing a punch; I dodged, countering with an upwards swing that dislocated the bot's jaw and sent it reeling.

I turned to face another one, slamming the batons down on its shoulders and bringing the machine to its knees, following it up with a rising knee kick that laid it out flat on the ground. Two more approached and I forced the batons into their open jaws, slamming in and shattering what I hoped were valuable components within their skulls. One of them leaped at me, trying to tackle – I dodged to the side, coming down on the base of its neck with a swing…

Its neck cracked, but nothing else seemed to happen. That's when I remembered; these things don't have control chips. They're dumb AI, running on simple programs… And those programs had them trying to kill me.

I caught another one in a roundhouse kick, bringing it to the ground and curb stomping it right where I assumed its central power supply was. It went down and the glow in its eyes died, causing the others to screech out and charge harder and faster. It was like an undead attack; I had to think fast. I dodged behind another work table, before stashing my batons for a moment and grabbing ahold of it – right before another murderbot grabbed hold of me and pulled me in, its jaw gaping as it leaned close to try and bite my face off. I grabbed a screwdriver on the table, slamming the point of it through its skull. It fell to the ground and lay still.

Grabbing the table once more, I lowered my head and charged through a small crowd of them, bowling them over and into each other as they fell into a heap of screeching, strained metal. Tugging the batons back out, I smashed the knee joint of another one that was grabbing hold of my coat, following it up with another solid boot to the chest. Apparently it was enough to dislodge the power supply, as it fell and shut down. I was winning thus far, but the strikes were starting to wear on me – I was flesh and blood, and I got tired. I grunted as one landed a solid punch to my side, sending me sprawling out against one table. Thinking fast, I grabbed a power drill and forced it into the bot's eye socket and out the back. I rolled off of the table, kicking down another rampaging machine before putting my new toy to work, drilling into its chest and frying the power supply.

This seemed to tick one of them off, and they made their distaste for my methods known by barreling me into another table, hands around my neck and squeezing tightly. I flailed for a moment, before grinning triumphantly as I grabbed hold of a shop light on the desk. I slammed it down bulb first, shattering it on the machine's head and immediately sending an electric current through its processor, shutting it down quickly and easily.

I concentrated for a moment, looking around to see if there were any others, and swore. Two of the robots were dragging off their fallen comrades to a corner of the warehouse... As well as what looked like a healthy pile of robot parts. My eyes widened as they started working on repairing their fallen comrades, before narrowing once more.

Oh, this would not do.

I tugged my revolver free, took aim for the power supply in the back of one of them, and squeezed off a shot. It struck true and ricocheted off, leaving little more than a mark. It seemed to do the job however, as one of the two repair machines turned and began charging me. I charged back towards it, before baseball sliding under its angry lunge, coming upwards with a double-baton strike to the power casing. It was powered down by the time it hit the ground. Thinking quickly, I jumped back to my feet and kicked the other repair bot in the back, tossing one baton around its neck and starting to pull. I stomped on its back a bit, tugging and struggling until its head popped clean off.

Turning quickly, I saw three more of them charging me, and started to fall back. I tripped over a few, letting the fastest of the three charge me and start trying to tear my head off. I groaned, groping around for and finding my taser, slamming it into the bot's neck and squeezing the trigger. It screamed out before falling, smoking lightly. The other two seemed unaffected, one grabbing hold of me around the waist while the other picked up a small power saw and approached me. I slammed the taser into the one at my middle, frying it out quickly before bringing a baton swing into the back of the saw robot's knee, forcing it down to one knee just long enough for me to smash another swing into its hands, forcing that saw into its own skull.

Another charged, I retreated. I grabbed hold of an old water bottle on one desk and gave it a shake, grinning triumphantly as I heard it slosh; nearly full… And one robot was coming at me right now to put it to use. It screeched in my face, and I upended the bottle down its throat. It whirred, screeched, and sparks jumped from it for a long moment before its head simply exploded, sending fragments everywhere. I swore as one embedded itself in my arm, drawing blood. I started backing away, my right arm now bleeding profusely and nearly useless in combat…

And then the front door caved in as Freddy introduced his foot to the lock, and the gang poured in. "ALEX!" Foxy yelled, rushing to my side and wrapping her good arm around me. It was at that time I noticed how painful my leg felt. I looked down, groaning as I saw half a saw blade embedded in the calf. "Let's… Get out…!" I managed to groan out in pain. The others nodded, providing a nice distraction as Foxy carried me out, followed by Chica and Bonnie. Freddy stuck around a bit longer to throw one powered down combat robot into a group of the others before following, piling into the truck. Freddy jumped behind the wheel while Foxy and Chica attended to my injuries, wrapping them as best they could. Meanwhile, I hunted for and grabbed my phone with my left hand.

Slowly, the pain was beginning to subside now that the shrapnel was no longer embedded in me; turns out, Chica's a good nurse as well as a good cook, and I was at least stitched up and cleaned up. All the while, I was coming up with a plan… A wonderful, cunning plan. I grinned and explained it to the others, who agreed to it. With a smile, I dialed Matthews' number.

"Hey, Matthews? It's Detective Redding. Get yourself down to my house, come alone. I've found your missing robots."

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><p>Uh-oh... What's Alex up to? Guess you'll have to wait a week to find out!<p>

Read and review!


	5. Chapter 5: Case ClosedEpilogue

Here we go, folks. The final chapter of Animatronic Investigations and my second to last upload of 2014. I'll try to put together some form of Christmas special next week, and after that I'll see y'all again after the holidays!

Time to wrap the case, folks.

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><p>I sat in the darkened living room, waiting for Matthews to show up at my door. The others were hidden, remembering my plan and I thought I distinctly heard the occasional faint chuckle coming from them as they prepared for their role in the plan. Matthews said he would be there shortly, which surprised me; it sounded like I'd pulled the guy straight out of bed… Then again, he probably would've heard about a probable break-in at the Golden Mile factory. I winced again as I moved my injured arm, chuckling softly as I thought about how badly they got it compared to me.<p>

Finally, the doorbell sounded. I took a quick glance out the window and sure enough, Matthews was there and looking rather nervous about being here in the first place… He was toying with something in his bag. I couldn't see what it precisely was, but I could make some assumptions… "It's open!" In he walked, looking more and more unsure of himself as he saw me. I gestured to the chair across from where I was sitting and he took it.

"Ah, Mr. Redding. I must say, you've proven to be quite a valuable asset for our interests. Barely two weeks on the case and you say you've found the missing robots? Capital work, capital. I'll see to it that your bonus is-"

"Can it." I cut him off. He looked unsure of himself for a moment, and I spoke again before he could continue to bluster. "Yes, I know where your missing robots are. But before I tell you anything about them, I've got a few questions of my own for you. Just a couple things that don't make sense to me, you understand."

He stammered for a moment, clearly put off by my attitude. _Well isn't that just too bad._ I looked him in the eye. "First off, regarding how fast I cleared this. Why was it so important that I wrapped the case in a month? I know the court case with Fazbear Entertainment is coming up, but you guys shouldn't be involved in that unless they want to do some senseless mudslinging and attempting to slander you." He seemed flustered by that, so I continued.

"Second, why hire some dumpy PI to track them down? Granted I have history with the robots, but I don't see why you wanted me of all people to find 'em. There are a hundred better private eyes around this city with more experience than me, why not get one of them to track down the rampaging robotics?" His face was starting to turn red at this point, so I stood and started pacing the room.

"Third, how did you know the robots that the police had weren't the originals? As far as I know, nobody's released the serial numbers, and since I doubt they'd be willing to let people unaffected by the case look at evidence for it, I've got to assume you found it through less… Legal channels." That seemed to get his attention, and he stood up sharply before starting to sputter.

"M-Mr. Redding! I find the accusations you are currently insinuating against my company highly irregular at best, and slanderous at worst!" He caught his breath, and I saw him messing with something in his bag again. "However, because I don't see any harm that could come of it, I will answer your questions. First of all, we wanted this solved prior to the court case for the exact reasons you discussed. Fazbear Entertainment would jump at any chance to slander someone else in order to protect their own investments. If it came out that the robots used as evidence were not the same as the originals, they would be very quick to point the finger back at us. Hence, we wanted them returned so we could return them to the authorities." He seemed a bit shifty at that last statement… Somehow, I doubted that. I cut him off.

"Bull. Why would it matter which robots it was? The ones the police have are the ones that I took on during the incident, so it should be pretty clear that they're the ones relevant. You're bluffing, Matthews. What's really going on?" I thought about using one of my trump cards, but held back; it was too early to start showing off what I knew from their warehouse. He mopped his forehead quickly, before speaking once again.

"Really, Mr. Redding… Very well. Those particular animatronics were of high value due to their sophisticated nature and mechanical components. We wanted to recover them; those particular models can be easily converted from entertainment machines to weapons of war, and we didn't want to run the risk of anyone unscrupulous getting a hold of them. Thus, we wanted them brought back into our control." I still didn't buy that, but it'd do for now. He continued.

"Now, as for your second question… There's a simple reason we hired you, Mr. Redding. You have experience with these animatronics in a combat situation. We had no way of knowing if they were activated for nefarious purposes or not, so we wanted to hire someone that would be able to defend themselves if the robots turned hostile. Plus…" He looked slightly embarrassed. "We wanted someone expendable. Someone who, if the worst happened, we could disavow all knowledge of."

I sighed. So I was the fall guy for this whole arrangement… Well, whatever. "And my third question?"

He stammered for a moment, shifting his weight briefly. "…Mr. Redding, I believe the interview is over. Now, as to the robotics and your payment…" I cut him off by tugging a baton out and extending it.

"No more bullcrap, Matthews. Spill it." His eyes widened and he trembled, stammering for a moment before speaking again.

"…We had someone inside the police station. Not one of our own; he was fully anonymous. He told us that the serial numbers didn't match up and sent us an image with them. We checked our own records and he was right. We… Attempted to retrieve the robotics from police control to verify this, however by the time we got there, they were already gone."

So that confirms what I thought. Someone else has an interest in these robots, and I get the feeling it's not a passing hobby… "I've got a few more questions, Matthews. Don't worry, there's only one or two more and then I'll tell you exactly where your missing machines are. After all, no harm in telling me; once you know where the robots are, then you'll pay me and we'll part ways – hopefully to never see each other again." He hesitated, then nodded.

"Three more questions, and these are a bit more personal. First off… Why did you turn combat robots into children's entertainers? And before you deny it, I talked to Faz. He told me everything; the combat machines, the incident overseas, the forced decommission… Why take them and turn them from weapons to entertainment?"

He stared, wide-eyed, before finally stammering out an answer. "Money. Golden Mile had been losing money for a long time due to the incident you speak of, when the squad command drone malfunctioned. We saw the rise of animatronic entertainers, and chose to look into that business. You know quite well that children are… Shall we say, rough. We didn't want to construct second-rate machines and have them become little more than mangles of assorted machinery, so we repurposed our combat machines. They were durable enough to weather the tests."

I nodded. Made sense, after all… "Second question. When you repurposed these robots, why didn't you do a full memory wipe? Why did you just leave their drives there to corrupt and rot over time? After all, what's the point of combat protocols in a children's entertainer?"

He stared even more, jaw working but no words coming out. "Really, Mr. Redding… How did you – never mind… The reason there is quite simple as well. Golden Mile always had a plan, at least in one form or another, to eventually re-open their combat robotics division and begin selling them again. Remember, Mr. Redding; a good year or more passed between the decommission and the selling for combat purposes; we'd always intended to get the combat programming off of them, store it for later use… We never got around to it. After all, to this day we don't produce combat machines anymore."

There it was. A bold-faced lie… And one I was going to call out. "Right… Honestly, it's slightly ironic that you bring up not making war machines anymore, because that brings me to my third question." Seeing him gripping whatever was in his bag a bit tighter, I started loosening up a bit just in case I had to dive for cover. "Why are you building and selling war machines on the black market?"

Clearly, that wasn't the question he was expecting. It was slightly amusing, seeing him turn white as a sheet while he choked and stammered for an answer. Eventually he managed to regain his composure, and looked at me with what I thought was him attempting to be threatening. "You're the one that broke in, weren't you?!"

I smiled, producing the taped emergency instructions from my coat. "Interesting words from your foreman. So basically if anyone gets stuck inside after six, their two endings are being fired or becoming a bloodstain. That certainly sounds familiar, even down to the instructions on how to survive; two blast doors, angry robots, keep quiet and try not to draw attention from them. Sounds very familiar, especially for a guy who worked the night shift at Freddy Fazbear's for a week." He sputtered even more, his face turning red with anger. "And then there's the matter of this black market dealing. Is Golden Mile really that desperate that they have to turn to illegal methods just to make ends meet? After all, these are dangerous machines that you're putting in the hands of drug dealers, crime bosses, and even the occasional psychotic foreign dictator."

He stared, eyes widening as his face turned purple, sputtering and stammering as he gripped whatever was in the bag with a death grip. "This ends, NOW!" He pulled it out and I froze. This maniac just pulled a pistol on me! I stared for a moment, hands raising with a smirk on my face.

"Ah, so now it makes sense. You were sent to get rid of me, weren't you? Your bosses knew that I was too clever, too close to what they were doing. But here, let me start from the beginning, and stop me if I'm wrong." I took a breath and met his stare with one of my own.

"You were re-engaging your combat robotics and selling them on the black market, but after a few technicians died in construction because of that 'patrol mode' the robots had, you changed the protocol and had everyone just leave the building after six. Your original programmer had either died or left the company, am I right?"

He nodded, still staring at me with rage in his eyes. "Yes. He left after programming the originals, saying that he wanted no hand in 'creating machines of death and destruction' anymore. Weak, if you ask me… So yes, we had no way of changing the programming; our newest ones tried, but they weren't able to remove the patrol mode for some reason."

The pieces were coming together now. "So that's why you wanted the old robots back… Because you didn't have any way of changing the new ones, so you wanted to directly copy what was done before. If it wasn't so insane, I'd say you were smart. Anyway… So you changed the protocol, and sent some dumpy PI out to track down the robots. Your bosses had no idea, but you chose me because of my history with dealing with them. When your bosses found out, they decided they didn't want me anywhere close to this, especially after finding out about my track record. So, they wanted you to fire me, get me off the case." I was shooting blanks here, but he nodded.

"Exactly. You're a well known name, Mr. Redding; the executives didn't want you involved in case you accidentally wrecked the machines you were trying to bring in. But they didn't want to turn you away so quickly; after all, for all they knew you'd keep on them afterwards. So, the general hope was to leave things as they were and hope that if the robots were reactivated they'd overwhelm and kill you. And if you found them de-activated, we'd get them back and have the problem solved. Although I'm about to solve the problem myself, right now…"

Something didn't make sense. From what he said, his bosses didn't tell him anything about directly getting rid of me. "So explain one last thing to me. If all that's the case… Then why do you have a gun pulled on me? I found your robots. Why are you threatening me?" He stared for a moment, before starting to laugh a bit.

"You mean you can't figure it out? It's quite simple, Mr. Redding. You know too much. You broke into the factory, found out what we're truly up to, and now you must be dealt with in a much more permanent matter. In a way, I suppose you should consider yourself lucky; if they had gotten you, then your death would have been agonizingly painful. Just one bullet from me, and everything will be solved… Unless you decide to make things difficult. Now, no more questions. Where are the robots?"

Slowly, everything fell into place. Matthews wasn't working in the company's interests right now; if they found out what he was doing, they'd be screwed… Luckily, my pocket recorder had been ticking the entire time. Now, just to make sure I'd be alive to use it… Hopefully this works. "You want to know where they are, Matthews? I could tell you, but it'd be easier to show you." I snapped my fingers.

He looked confused for a long moment, before the sound of several pairs of heavy feet came echoing down the dark hall. His eyes widened, and his head turned towards the noise…

Just in time to see the silhouette of Freddy's head begin to flash and glow, his familiar Toreador March jingling through the air as the four animatronics slowly approached him. He screamed, turning with his gun to take aim –

And I dove into him, tackling him down. The robots followed quickly, with Bonnie quickly disarming him and Chica tying his hands behind his back. Foxy kicked him down onto a chair, and I grinned down at him as Freddy crouched to his level. "You didn't follow the rules, Matthews… Rule breakers have to be punished!" I barely suppressed a malicious laugh; I was pretty sure he just wet himself from that.

After a long second, I stepped in. "Easy there, Freddy. Now, Matthews… As you can see, I found the original Fazbear band in a very unlikely place; as my new roommates. This seems to put you in an awkward spot, because they'd rather me not get killed; they can't exactly get jobs for themselves, after all. So… I could send them back with you, but I get this feeling you won't survive the experience." I stepped back, looking around. "The second option is to kill you so you don't spread the secret, however I'm not terribly keen about getting blood on my hands. You're a puppet, Matthews; a stupid one. And I'm not keen on killing the messenger."

He looked like he was about to pass out at this point, so I gave him a smile. "The third option is simple. Pay me for my work, and then disappear. Don't go back to Golden Mile, and don't spread word about this; after all, we've worked hard to be left alone, and we would rather it not be ruined… So, what do you say?"

It took him all of one more toothy grin from Foxy to make the decision. Within three minutes, he'd signed the check and ran out the doorway. Freddy looked over to me. "You think we'll have any trouble with him again, Alex?"

I chuckled and shook my head, shutting the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Epilogue: Two Months Later.

It had been a busy few months after the crew and I put a scare into Matthews. During that time, the check cleared – including a few thousand extra, in an attempt from Golden Mile to shut me up about their less than legal activities. I ignored it, and submitted everything I had to Adams. They were on Golden Mile within three days, and had made several arrests already in addition to shutting down the unsold combat machines. They'd even begun tracking down the ones that were already sold, trying to round them up and deal with them.

Sadly, despite all this commotion, the four stolen robots never showed up again. Without that key piece of evidence, the lawsuit against Fazbear Entertainment fell through in the criminal courts. However, people had started taking them to civil court and suing for damages. Most charges went through without a problem, with a handful being settled out of court. All in all, Fazbear Entertainment had gotten a severe beating in the courts despite none of the executives facing jail time.

We'd heard a few faint words about potential locations for the missing robots, with blame shifting between Fazbear Entertainment, Golden Mile, and even a few independent collectors for who had taken them, but the matter was largely dropped after the court case ended. Not that I cared; as long as they stayed powered down, they could be in a museum for all I cared.

My investigations had come together quite well, and gave me around a week of free time to hang out with the crew, even inviting Faz, Adams and Mike over for a party to celebrate when the verdict against Golden Mile came out: Guilty as charged.

By now, the dust had settled and, as tends to happen, everything had dropped out of the news media. Always something new going on, after all… I stepped outside, grabbed the mail and newspaper, and came back in.

Freddy and Bonnie were snuggling on the couch again, the TV on and occupying their attention. Foxy was in the charger; we'd had another all-night snuggle last night, so she needed her batteries topped up. And judging by the scent of breakfast, Chica was hard at work in the kitchen once more. I sat down at the table, setting the junk mail aside, and looked over the newspaper.

Nothing much springing out… Tax deficit, people angry at politicians, controversial family pizzeria reopening in new location… Wait, what?!

I stared at the ad. Sure enough, there it was.

_Fazbear Pizzeria Reopening Despite Storm of Controversy!_

_The highly controversial family restaurant chain, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, has announced today that after a change in executive management they would be reopening their doors in spite of a storm of controversy surrounding the failed lawsuit against them last month._

"_We understand that we don't have the greatest history," says Frederick Mitchell, new CEO of Fazbear Entertainment, "However we're not going to let that stop us. There's a new management in, and we're going to be hard at work improving the facility. We have all-new animatronics with facial recognition software installed in order to prevent future incidents; they can spot a child predator from a mile off! We're also introducing a brand new free-roaming mode, which means the animatronic characters can now directly interact with guests! We've also rendered the new animatronics child-safe; there is no danger of any future incidents like those of the restaurant's dark past."_

_Despite the reassurance, many people are skeptical of the potential in a new branch of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, with many saying that it's too little, too late. Whether or not this new management and change in location and animatronic entertainers will quell naysayers remains to be seen._

_The All-New Freddy Fazbear's Pizza opens in January of 2015._

I shouted for the others to get in here, staring at the paper for a long moment before showing them as they came in. Chica screeched in shock, Bonnie's eyes bulged, Foxy shook her head, and Freddy just took his hat off. "Alex, you know what this means…"

I nodded, sighing and rubbing my forehead.

"Looks like I'm in for a second five nights at Freddy's…"

* * *

><p>Did y'all like the little touches in here? I added two specific ones. Cookies to whoever figures them out!<p>

Read and review, everyone! I'll see y'all in Fa-La-La-Fazbear. And yes, that's a working title. See ya then!


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